FLORENCE, Ky.—Fighting for his political survival amid President Donald Trump’s push to remove him from Congress, libertarian-minded Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) took the stage at a weekend campaign rally and proclaimed that his gathering on May 19 would be “a victory party” and an opportunity to continue working with the president.
Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District is one of the nation’s most closely watched Republican primaries in the 2026 election cycle.
Massie, who was first elected to Congress in 2012 and is in his seventh term, is attempting to defeat challenger Ed Gallrein, a Trump-endorsed former Navy SEAL.
The district stretches from the suburbs of Cincinnati across the Ohio River in northern Kentucky southward to the outskirts of Louisville, incorporating coal towns and rural villages in the Appalachian foothills.
The Cook Political Report rates the district as “solid” Republican. The primary winner will be heavily favored to win the general election in November.
In 2024, Massie won the primary with 75.9 percent of the vote and the general election with 99.6 percent support. Trump won the district by 35 points in 2024.
PR Battle
The race is now the most expensive House primary in U.S. history.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) data, which includes campaign ad spending and other costs, show that candidate campaigns and political parties have spent an estimated $35 million, according to Quiver Quantitative. And according to AdImpact, more than $25 million has been spent on digital, radio, and television ads.
Massie’s campaign has outspent Gallrein’s, $5.8 million to $2.6 million.
For outside spending, independent political groups have spent more than $10.1 million supporting Massie.
Massie’s campaign says it has mainly relied on grassroots fundraising. He has received support from the Kentucky First PAC, backed by Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass, a major TikTok investor, which contributed $1 million in support, and the Make Liberty Win PAC, which contributed $518,205.
Super PACs have favored Gallrein, pouring more than $16.4 million in support of his unseating the incumbent.
The Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund filed another $470,000 of spending against Massie over the weekend, according to Quiver Quantitative.
“There has now been more than $20,000,000 of outside spending in this race,” the organization noted in a post on X.
Last week, Massie said on Tucker Carlson’s podcast that funds spent to oust him “didn’t come from regular people.” He added that 95 percent of it “has come from the Israeli lobby”—groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC’s) United Democracy Project super PAC, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), Christians United for Israel (CUFI), and the MAGA KY Super PAC, whose donors include figures such as billionaires Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer, and John Paulson.
“Their position is more war, it’s more strife, it’s more bombs, it’s more foreign aid, and those are the things that I’ve been voting against,” Massie said.
Massie on Israel
Massie has frequently expressed his opposition to unconditional American support for Israel, contending that the nation is not a net strategic ally.
He has voted against aid packages to Israel, including $14 billion in 2023, arguing it would cost around $100 per working person through inflation and taxes.
He has said that most members of Congress have an AIPAC lobbyist impacting their votes, and that the organization implements abundant sway in its campaign funding.
The legislator has also voted against symbolic resolutions of support for Israel, calling many of them “meaningless.”
Massie has said that these decisions represent his consistent opposition to all foreign aid and not hostility directed toward Israel. He has pointed out that he is against big government spending abroad because of debt and inflation in America.
On May 14, Massie introduced legislation that would require groups like AIPAC, a domestic lobby group that shares policy goals with Israeli interests but has no direct direction or funding from the Israeli government, to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The Americans Insist on Political Agent Clarity (AIPAC) Act, which his office said closes a loophole in the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA) that allows “certain organizations to avoid registering as foreign agents despite lobbying on behalf of foreign interests.”
“Americans have a right to know when powerful lobbying organizations are advancing the interests of foreign governments in Congress,” Massie said, adding that the proposed measure “does not ban speech, restrict advocacy, or prohibit Americans from supporting foreign allies.”
“It simply ensures transparency. If an organization is heavily engaged in influencing U.S. policy in ways that principally benefit a foreign country, it should be required to register under FARA.”
While the name of the bill targets Israeli interests, the statutory language is neutral and not limited to Israel, so it would require the same of groups such as CODEPINK, the Center for Climate Integrity, American Muslims for Palestine, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
An MIT grad and an engineer by trade, Massie has carved a niche as a fiscally conservative libertarian who adheres to the Constitution and does not hesitate to call for a non-interventionist version of Trump’s “America first” policy, with limited foreign aid and foreign wars. He describes himself as a “true conservative,” calling for fiscal restraint as seen by the ticking debt clock on his lapel, who is pro-life and pro-Second Amendment.
He often says that his voting record shows he is a conservative who does not compromise core principles even when his views conflict with those of other conservative colleagues in Congress and the president.
Massie Rally
Supporters at the May 16 rally in Florence praised Massie as one of the few lawmakers in Washington who refuse to “go along to get along” and who follow the Constitution.
On the campaign trail, Massie has repeatedly said that he votes with Republicans “91 percent of the time.”
“The 9 percent of the time I don’t, my party is taking up for pedophiles, bankrupting this country, or starting another war,” Massie said at a May 16 campaign rally in Florence.
“They want 100 percent compliance. That’s why they’re trying to take me out.”
The Epoch Times planned to cover a Gallrein event, also in Florence, on May 16. That gathering was canceled.
Record in Congress
Trump and Massie have shared an up-and-down political relationship for years. Each has previously endorsed the other.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress accelerated the CARES Act. Massie tried to get a recorded vote in the House, saying that a bill authorizing trillions in new spending and emergency authorities should not be passed with a voice vote with only a fraction of the members in attendance.
His stance ignited opposition from colleagues who wanted to act quickly. Trump publicly called for Massie’s expulsion from the Republican Party.
Then, in 2022, Trump praised Massie, calling him a “Conservative Warrior” and a “first-rate Defender of the Constitution.”
During the president’s second term, the pair have clashed over multiple issues.
In 2025, Massie voted against Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act because, he argued, it increased the national debt.
An outspoken critic of the Iran war, Massie sponsored a War Powers Resolution in an attempt to require that the administration cease hostilities.
Massie touted his role in co-sponsoring the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law in November 2025, a response to long-standing calls for full disclosure of government-held records related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The House passed the measure on Nov. 18, 2025, by a vote of 427–1 after Massie used a discharge petition to force a House vote. The same day, the Senate approved it by unanimous consent. Trump signed it into law the next day.
The Department of Justice released the first batch of files in December 2025. Millions of pages, and thousands of images and videos, were made public, bringing the total to roughly 3.5 million pages.
Releasing the files is only the first step in the process, Massie reiterated once more on May 16.
He has criticized former Attorney General Pam Bondi and the current occupant of the role, Todd Blanche, regarding delays, incomplete releases, and redactions of influential names. Massie has repeatedly called for more transparency.
On May 19, the day of the primary, it will be six months to the day since the law passed, Massie noted at the May 16 rally.
At a Kenton County GOP dinner earlier this month, Gallrein accused Massie of voting against the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), a measure designed to require documentation of U.S. citizenship for voter registration in federal elections.
Massie has pushed back, noting that he voted yes on the legislation.
At the May 16 rally, Massie also touted his role as primary sponsor of the National Constitutional Carry Act, which would prohibit states and localities from imposing criminal or civil penalties on legal firearm owners for carrying guns in public; and his refusal to sign the Protect American AI Act of 2026, which was fast-tracked in the House Judiciary Committee and would limit litigation on environmental reviews and permits for data centers and related infrastructure.
Massie is also one of the most vocal opponents in Congress of warrantless surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. Trump was once a staunch opponent of the measure but now supports extending it by 18 months, specifically Section 702, which allows warrantless surveillance of foreign overseas targets.
Massie said he stands against the Act because it allows unconstitutional “backdoor searches” of American citizens’ emails, texts, and other communications without probable cause.
“I read the bills. I try to make the decision based on what is best,” Massie said. “I’m not a rubber stamp who goes along to get along, which is what my opponent has said he will do.”
Rift on the Right
The Massie–Gallrein primary represents a growing rift among Republican elected officials who to date have generally been associated with Trump’s MAGA platform.
On May 16, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) joined Reps. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at the campaign rallies for Massie.
“If this race can be bought, it will set a precedent for every other race for our entire country,” Boebert said.
Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) backs Gallrein. He serves in the House with Massie, is running in the Republican primary to replace outgoing Sen. Mitch McConnell, and is also endorsed by Trump.
In a statement, Barr said that Gallrein will “stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Trump and always fight for the MAGA agenda.” Gallrein “will never side with AOC or the radical-left against President Trump,” he added.
At Massie’s May 16 rally, several speakers and attendees told The Epoch Times that they disagree with the narrative that they must choose between Trump and Massie.
“If you are thinking that you can’t be for President Trump and for Thomas Massie, you certainly can be,” Gex Williams, a state senator backing Massie, said.
Michigan activist Kristen Kelly drove to Kentucky to volunteer for Massie in the final days of the race.
“I voted for Trump three times, and I do not regret my vote,” the Michigan activist said, before drawing a line.
“But this is the first time that Massie really has had pressure and actually could potentially lose his race.
“MAGA has somewhat become, by definition, a cult mindset for those who think if you don’t do everything that President Trump wants, then you are somehow against him. But we have to remember the oath is to the Constitution, not a person or party.”
Florida resident Mark Rogers drove up to Indiana to visit his son and made a detour to neighboring Kentucky to attend the rally.
He told The Epoch Times that Massie’s track record represents “the exact playbook that President Trump originally ran on.”
“What Trump sold the people, they bought because they believed in it. Trump faded away from it, but Massie towed the line and stuck with what he said. That’s where the working class has always been,” he said.
“Back in the day, a man was of his word, you could do something on a handshake. Massie is following through with that handshake integrity.”
Critics have called Massie an obstructionist who diverges from Trump’s “America first” agenda. Trump called Massie a “third-rate grandstander” and “the worst Congressman” in U.S. history.
Jack Smith said that he backed Massie in earlier elections but will not cast his ballot this year because the congressman “does not get in line” with Trump’s platform. Gallrein would “always be loyal to Trump,” he said.
Gallrein said the race is a choice between loyalty to Trump’s America First platform and Massie’s obstructionism.
“Thomas Massie has become one of the biggest roadblocks to President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda,” Gallrein said after receiving Trump’s backing. “President Trump endorsed me because Kentuckians deserve a congressman who will stand with our president, not against him.”
The district is “Trump country,” Gallrein said. Voters deserve a representative “who will serve as a reliable partner to the president rather than an obstacle,” he added.
Gallrein has accused Massie of having “Trump derangement syndrome” and said he is a “darling of the mainstream media.”
He added that he will “deliver results” and not “create friction.”
At a rally in March, Trump said, “Just give me somebody with a warm body to beat Massie, and I got somebody with a warm body but a big, beautiful brain—Ed Gallrein has my complete and total endorsement.”
At a campaign stop last week, Gallrein told supporters of Trump, “He’ll take my call. I’ll be able to have a conversation with him. I do not lack for courage. Rest assured, I’ll have a relationship with the president, so he will let me speak my mind, and I’ll do that for these folks in these 21 counties and for our party and for our nation.”
At the May 16 rally, Massie said that “politicians promise during the campaign, and then they go to D.C. to go along to get along. My opponent is promising to go along to get along.”
Massie has frequently chastised Gallrein for not debating him.
At a campaign stop earlier in May, Gallrein was asked whether he planned to debate Massie.
Gallrein responded that a traditional debate is unnecessary.
“I’m debating him every day. I’m glad you asked that question,” Gallrein said.
“He’s had 15 years to make his case to these people. Get this quote right. Fifteen years. What’s he got to say now? What’s he not said he’s not said already?”
America First Works (AFW) said over the weekend that it will host a May 18 event featuring remarks from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Gallrein.
“This event will provide a unique chance for the American people to hear from leaders of the America First movement and patriots who share the values that made our Nation great. Our Nation is experiencing a comeback like never before, but we must fight to keep these America First principles going or risk losing what we’ve gained,” AFW President Ashley Hayek said.
Massie and Gallrein have a flurry of campaign events slated for May 18 and May 19. Massie said he is courting the 65-and-older voters who have been reluctant to support his campaign because “they get their information from Fox News,” which he believes has not provided favorable coverage to the incumbent.
Massie’s campaign said that they feel confident there will be a wide turnout of supporters who are 55 and younger.
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